BIRMINGHAM'S controversial British National Party councillor has defiantly attended her first council meeting.

Despite doubt and arguments raging over her taking the King-standing ward in the local elections, Sharon Ebanks took her seat on the Erdington District Committee last night.

She turned up 10 minutes late, walking in with her "minder" after the meeting had started.

Although she didn't utter a word during the session, her collection of mobile phones rang several times with tunes ranging from Rule Britannia to Land of Hope and Glory.

When asked after the meeting why she had stayed so silent, she replied she found it "all a bit formal" and was "finding her feet".

Earlier in the day she had been snubbed by her fellow members in the city Council Chamber.

She picked her seat - 101 named after Room 101 in the George Orwell novel 1984 - but then discovered she was occupying a row on her own after other councillors refused to sit next to her.

But she brushed aside about their snub, saying: "It doesn't bother me, it's just silly pettiness."

She also revealed she was planning to attend next Tuesday's council dinner despite criticising the extravagance in her election leaflet.

"I do think it's a waste of taxpayers' money but I will be going to view and report back to the residents of Kingstanding," she said. "I won't be drinking alcohol or eating any of the food, I'll stick to just plain water."

She also hit out at the bad publicity she has received since the election.

"If I had the money I'd sue, but I don't so I'll just have to put up with it," she said.

Ms Ebanks said she was planning to hold "mass surgeries" in her ward.

"My surgeries won't be just an hour long with me talking to just one person at a time," she said. "Mine will be three to four hours and will be en masse with as many people as possible in. But so far I haven't been able to find a venue to hold one in.

"Everywhere I've tried have said they're fully booked. I don't know if that's because they don't want me there, or they are genuinely booked up."

* The Labour Party has served an Election Petition on Birmingham City Council and the BNP in a bid to oust the far-right councillor.

At the Kingstanding election Ms Ebanks was first declared the clear winner. But immediately following the declaration officials discovered there had been a miscount and Labour's Catherine Grundy should have won.